1914 Introduce Tanks Earlier in Game

The 17 hour game was Global 40. We played 1914 for 7 hours but it was never in doubt after about 4 hours or so.

It’s not as good of a game as G40 but it is still a good game. The play is much different so that adds some variety to your game collection. Make sure that if you are going to get the game that you get extra pieces or you will be frustrated. Aside from German infantry the next thing to run out is the playing chips and they are slightly larger than the chips you are using now so they don’t stack well. You can buy the pieces and chips from HBG. The tournament rules are better than the OOB rules as well.

When playing as the US, I usually have 2-3 transports waiting in New York Harbor for over-seas duty. I mix in 1 tank with the rest of the shipment because I find my US army gets involved in smaller battles of about 10 units (Africa, Mid-East, Eastern France etc). As I can only ship a limited number of units per turn, the tanks absorb hits every round and survives to be bolstered by the freshly arriving 2+ infantry.
For everyone else I think tanks are money poorly spent.

Anecdotal Evidence

Starlight Sniper

Tanks are useless in penny packets, devastating in large spearheads; just as the French found out in 1940.

One option is to build a phalanx of French tanks and then reinforce the breakthrough with British infantry before the enemy can counter-attack. Or use American infantry to shield a British tank army, as the UK can usually spend more on tanks than France.

Austria-Germany can do the same on the western front; Germany-Austria in the East.

But the main use of tanks is to convert an industrial advantage into victory by effecting a breakthrough into enemy tt, ending the stalemate. When the Allies start building a large tank army its usually the writing on the wall for the CPs.

Personally, I’d like to see tanks made available to buy a round earlier.

Hypothetical question: If the attack resolution rules for 1914 were the same as the other A&A games, which current first moves would you change and why…for example, I would change my opening moves by AH to build up forces to attack Italy first and just build up a force in Galicia rather than attack Venice and Poland…I would still have to attack Serbia, but I would hold off on Albania…

I’ve been playing this game with mostly the same group for a couple of years now and not once have I seen Germany declare USW. The minor hit to the Allies’ income just isn’t worth the risk.

@Athlim:

Contested territories and Air supremacy we should See incorporated into the next WW2 A&A Game!

Maybe someone could send Larry a note and start an AA WWII Revolution

I have often felt that WotC has lacked a strong plan for the Axis & Allies brand. There’s SO much more that they could do to market (at low cost too). Consider the way they’ve invested D&D Encounter and the Game Finder webpage. A similar investment in the A&A brand could do wonders for insuring a healthy A&A market for the future.

The pathetic official webpage is a dismal representation of any business plan that they have at WotC/Hasbro for developing the brand.